NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #27/NN_1992_27.iso/spool/alt/discrimi/4727

Internet Message Format | 1992-11-24 | 5.3 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!bu.edu!dartvax!kip-sn-4.dartmouth.edu!Nile Barrabas
From: Nile [e-mail] (Nile Barrabas)
Newsgroups: alt.discrimination
Subject: Very interesting article found on clari
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Date: 24 Nov 92 01:20:07 GMT
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    NORFOLK, Va. (UPI) -- It takes only a few bad teachers to cause black
students to drop out, says a Norfolk State University anthropologist
who's written a book on the subject.
    ``I did not anticipate that white teachers would express racism
overtly,'' said Professor Annie Barnes, author of ``Retention of
African-American Males in High School.
    Dozens of black students who have dropped out, and their parents,
have told Barnes anecdotes ranging from insensitivy by white and black
teachers to outright bigotry.
    ``A majority of teachers in the Norfolk public school are excellent,''
Barnes told The Virginian-Pilot in an interview the newspaper published
Monday. ``But you don't need a whole system acting antagonistically
toward a student; you only need a few teachers to turn him off.''
    The anecdotes Barnes relates indicate too many teachers have low
expectations of black students and penalize them excessively:
    --A black student, turning the corner of a corridor, bumps into a
white student, who says, ``Nigger, you better watch where you are going.
'' The black student threw a punch and got a five-day suspension. School
officials administered no sanction against the white student.
    --A teacher stays until 4 p.m. to punish a malcontent, ordering him to
sweep the floor and clean the blackboard. But when the teenager asks the
teacher to remain late to help him with homework, the rejoinder is,
``You can be smart with your friends and now you need my help?'' The
teacher predicted the student would be in prison the following year.
    --A black student withdraws from a gifted class that has only a
handful of other blacks. Later he learns ``most blacks at school had
never heard about these classes.''
    Barns said teachers often don't praise black students as much as they
do whites.
    ``They do not look at their eyes enough or touch them enough,''
Barnes said. ``Just a pat on the back means a lot to students.''
    A spokesman for the Norfolk school district, George Raiss, said that
if black students aren't in honors classes, ``it's not because of a
black of effort from counselors.''
    Leaders of the city's two teacher associations said most of their
members struggle to treat students fairly.
    ``I would hate to think that professionals are treating our students
that way,'' said the head of the Education Association of Norfolk,
Charlene Christopher. ``Teachers are human, but name-calling...''
    Barnes interviewed Shawn Knight for video in conjunction with her
book on what keeps black in -- and out -- of school.
    Knight is an aspiring politician and quarterback at the College of
William and Mary, but he doesn't attribute his success to high school
teachers.
    ``The types of teachers that will go out of their way to help
students have become the exception rather than the norm,'' Knight said.
    ``A lot of teachers show up to work, they put in their time and then
they go home,'' said Knight, a 20-year-old junior from Norfolk's Maury
High School.
    Some students require a certain degree of sensitivity, said Knight,
who has a B-minus average.
    ``I've seen some teachers who jumped all over a student instead of
talking to him after class to find out what the problem is,'' Knight
said.
    Knight also sees ``little subtle things'' in the manner in which
teachers treated whites and blacks.
    ``I'd see them totally ignore something that a white student did, but
for something even smaller, they'd tear into a black students. That's
going to kill their motivation.''
    The larger problem, Knight said, is that students just don't see that
the school district has anything to offer them as opposed to what they
see out on the street. They're not very affluent, and they want to be.
    He saw what school had to offer. His parents, Clessie and William
Smith, made sure he did.
    ``I wasn't going anywhere till I got my homework done,'' Knight said.
``They wouldn't fuss or lecture me too much. They would just say, ''All
right now, you know what you have to do.' I've always had in mind that I
was going to a college, and I wanted to go to a really good one. If they
had any sense that I was slipping, they'd say, 'Do you know what type of
school you want to go to, what it takes?'``
    Knight's faith also directs him. He returns to his old church in
Chesapeake every two weeks.
    ``A lot of kids run into problems and they get so frustrated, they
don't know what to do so they give up,'' Knight said. ``My faith in God
won't let me give up.''
    As with Barnes, Knight has opinions on how to keep children in
school. Knight believes they ought to receive academic credit for
participating in sports but shouldn't be permitted to play unless they
have a C average overall. Presently they only must pass to be permitted
to participate.
    ``So many great athletes in our area haven't gone to college,''
Knight said. ``But you can't go to college if you're just required to
pass.''